Till March, a 38-year-old man used to stir martinis and rustle up mojitos at a Theatre Road pub.
For the past few months, the out-of-work Barrackpore resident has been scrambling to get a job. That includes trying in vain for a guard’s job at a housing complex.
A 23-year-old man from Hind Motor had joined a Camac Street bar earlier this year after a short stint at a Park Street café. After a hotel management diploma, he had done a professional bartending course and liked to call himself a “mixologist”. His salary of “Rs 16,000” was a glimmer of hope for his parents, who had paid through their nose for his courses.
Since April, the youth is “on furlough”. The pandemic has not only dashed the family’s hopes but posed a serious challenge in meeting daily expenses.
The bar shutdown because of the Covid pandemic has robbed many Calcuttans of their weekend fun. But for thousands of people, it means loss of livelihood and an uncertain future for their families. Behind the tinkling of glasses, psychedelic lights and trippy music, these places also provided bread and butter to many families.
“I have been working as a bartender for close to a decade. There is hardly anything else I can do. But I cannot sit at home, whimpering. I have to do something. I have not been able to pay my daughter’s school fees for the past two months,” said the Barrackpore resident.
His wife is a homemaker. His daughter studies in Class XI. The man used to get a salary of Rs 22,000. He said he had not been paid anything since the pub downed shutters in March.
The Telegraph spoke to many such people. They have lost their jobs or are on unpaid leave or furlough. A few lucky ones have been getting a small part of their salary.
Most of the people this newspaper spoke to requested anonymity. They feared revealing their names would jeopardise the chances of getting back to work when the situation improved, as promised by several owners.
The owners said they were struggling to stay afloat. Rent licence fees and other fixed cost components are continuing to deplete their coffers. Their revenue has been zero since March.
“What options am I left with? I have to pay a huge rent even when the place is shut. I have to renew my excise license, trade and fire licences,” said a young bar owner, who has been “forced” to cut jobs and send employees on unpaid leave.
The “uncertainty” is most disturbing, the owners said, especially when retail liquor shops have reopened. When the curbs were first imposed, they thought the shutdown would be short. Many bar owners did not go for layoffs or furloughs for initial months. But the prolonged ban on bars has left them with no other option, said the owners.
“Had we known the burnout, it would have been easy to calculate our losses and go ahead. Gradually, all other businesses are opening up, except bars,” said the owner of a microbrewery that has remained shut.
The lid on bottles has also affected revenue and footfall at some of the traditional favourite restaurants on Park Street, forcing owners to reduce staff strength.
“If I am allowed to serve fresh lime soda on a table, what is the problem in serving a bottle of beer,” asked the owner of a Park Street bar-cum-restaurant.
An informal association of bartenders in Calcutta has been trying to raise funds for out-of-work bar employees. “We have over 120 members. But thousands of bar employees are out of work,” said a member of the association.
Sagar Daryani, the chapter head of the National Restaurants Association of India in Calcutta, said the number of places that served alcohol in the city would be over 1,000. “The lives of tens of thousands of people are at stake.” he said.